black hat

black hat


   1. [common among security specialists] A {cracker}, someone bent on
   breaking into the system you are protecting. Oppose the less comon
   white hat for an ally or friendly security specialist; the term gray
   hat is in occasional use for people with cracker skills operating
   within the law, e.g. in doing security evaluations. All three terms
   derive from the dress code of formulaic Westerns, in which bad guys
   wore black hats and good guys white ones.

   2. [spamfighters] `Black hat', `white hat', and `gray hat' are also
   used to denote the spam-friendliness of ISPs: a black hat ISP harbors
   spammers and doesn't terminate them; a white hat ISP terminates upon
   the first LART; and gray hat ISPs terminate only reluctantly and/or
   slowly. This has led to the concept of a hat check: someone
   considering a potential business relationship with an ISP or other
   provider will post a query to a {NANA} group, asking about the
   provider's hat color. The term albedo has also been used to describe a
   provider's spam-friendliness.